As the days lengthen and 70-degree weather periodically pushes open windows and doors, it signals an ancient response from the millions of dormant seeds scattered across the land waiting to germinate. Serious gardeners are rubbing their gloved hands together in greedy anticipation of this year's harvest of fruits, vegetables and flora.

Understand the germination process of favorite fruits and vegetables, and a gardener may harvest more produce earlier as well as at the end of the growing season, says master gardener Roxy Hunter.

Hunter recently addressed both the cold and warm germination processes to help gardeners prepare for spring planting and gardens. The class members, a mix of master and novice gardeners and a few hobbyists, were interested in beginning their spring gardens.

"This topic is more vast than I had ever realized. I learned a lot about the seeds," Hunter said of her presentation and research.

With a few handouts, Hunter talked about germination and a few techniques.

Germination falls into three categories of seeds: perennials, grasses and annuals.

"For some seeds, it will take one to three months to germinate," she said.

Annuals - plants whose life cycle lasts only one year from seed to bloom - bloom from seeds. They grow in spring, set flowers quickly, produce quickly and die at frost, Hunter said.

"They produce an abundance of seeds," she said.

Annuals include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and the majority of produce found in gardens. These seeds would naturally sprout with just water, warmth and light and may be scattered naturally by wind, insects or animals. On the other hand, birds and other animals are significant in the germination of fruits.

"A fruit tree makes its seeds very enticing to animals, so animals eat it and carry the seeds elsewhere - dispersing them to find new nutrients to survive," Hunter said.

This assures that seeds end up far away from the "mother" plant, where they can develop without competition from "mom." The fruit may possess special characteristics to attract and encourage dispersal by an animal, such as size, nutrient value or richness of color.

Nature has prepared within perennials - those plants that come up year after year - an enzyme that needs to be chilled, she said.

The vast majority of these use abscisic acid to keep the embryos from germinating too early. This chemical is broken down by enzymes in the embryo over time. The enzymes have a cold temperature optimum, which means the enzyme isn't active until early winter. The abscisic acid keeps the embryo dormant from dispersal to frost.

After six weeks of chilly weather, the enzyme begins to break down the acid, which metabolizes completely. But the cold soil keeps the embryo dormant until the warmth of spring.

To accelerate this process, seeds can be harvested in late summer as they mature, placed in moist soil and kept in a refrigerator for four to six weeks, which is called stratification.

After stratification is complete, the plants can be moved to a lighted greenhouse that is warm; this treatment is called vernalization. The seed has experienced winter and spring conditions and should germinate.

"Nature has prepared each seed to make sure it survives. It has put a coat on each seed with all the nutrients inside to get it started," Hunter said.

Some seeds need chilling, some need to be pierced or scratched and others need to be soaked. To find out which seeds need what, research seed tables. The tables will describe moisture, warmth, chilling or scarification needs.

Scarification is needed for seeds with a very thick seed coat, which evolved so it could pass through the digestive system of an animal or survive a fire before being able to sprout. Scarification scratches or degrades the seed coat and permits water to pass through the protective cover and so the embryo can begin germinate.

Hunter, along with about every gardener in Rapid City, has been browsing through the dozens of seed catalogs delivered this winter, dreaming of new varieties of peppers and tomatoes that will find their new home in her yard.

Her interest in gardening began at an early age while living on a ranch east of Rapid City. She loved the family's big garden and ventured to cultivate flowers upon the prairie.

The vegetables and fruits planted in the garden lot were spectacularly successful; the flowers were less than good.

"I wonder if my grandmother instilled my love of gardening. She loved to garden, although my mother always liked to garden," Hunter said.

And with the success of that prairie's Eden, she went on to study as a master gardener and continues her own work with germination. Even now, poppies and red leaf dahlias are clustered under grow lights in her basement as are three varieties of tomatoes, peppers and basil.

"It's a little early yet to start seeds, but in mid-March things will begin moving," she said of planting.